501. [verse 8] 'And their bodies [shall be] upon the street of the great city' signifies that these two Essentials of the New Church have been totally rejected by those who are interiorly in the untruths of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. By the 'bodies' of the two witnesses are signified the two Essentials of the New Church, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord as being the Only God of heaven and earth, and that conjunction with Him is by means of a life in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue (n. 490 seq.). By 'the Street of the great city' is signified the untruth of the doctrine concerning justification by faith alone; by 'the street' is signified the untruth, concerning which [something] follows, and by 'the city' is signified doctrine (n. 194). It is called 'the great city' because it is the doctrine reigning in the whole Reformed Christian world with the clergy, though not in like manner with the laity. By 'streets' in the Word are signified almost the same as by 'ways' because streets are ways in a city; but still by 'streets' are signified truths or untruths of doctrine because a 'city' signifies doctrine (n. 194), and by 'ways' are signified truths or untruths of the Church because the 'land' signifies the Church (n. 285). That 'streets' signify truths or untruths of doctrine can be seen from the following passages:-
Judgment has been rejected, and justice has stood afar off, for the truth (veritas) has been stricken in the street, and rectitude cannot come Isa. lix 14.
The chariots have run riot in the streets, they have rushed about in the broad ways Nah. ii 4 [H.B. 5].
In the days of Jael the ways were disused, the broad ways were disused in Israel Judg. v 6, 7.
How has the city of glory been left? Wherefore shall her young men fall in the streets? Jer. xlix 25, 26; l 30.
They that have fed delicately have been devastated in the streets. The form of the Nazirites has been darkened more than blackness, they are not recognised in the streets. They have wandered blind in the streets. They have hunted our step, so that we cannot go in the streets Lam. iv 5, 8, 14, 18.
I will cut off the nations, their corners shall be devastated, I will desolate their streets Zeph. iii 6.
Afterwards in sixty-two weeks the streets of Jerusalem shall be built, but in critical times Dan. ix 25.
The street of the city of New Jerusalem is pure gold, as it were transparent glass Rev. xxi 21.
In the midst of the street of it, on this side and on that, a tree producing twelve fruits Rev. xxii 1, 2;
besides elsewhere as Isa. xv 3; xxiv 10, 11; li 20; Jer. v 1; vi 16; vii 17; ix 21 [H.B. 20]; xi 13; xliv 9, 17; Lam. lii 11, 19; Ezek. xi 6; xvi 24, 25, 31; xxvi 11, 12; Amos v 16; Zech. viii 3-5; Ps. cxliv 13; Job v 10. Since 'streets' signify truths of the doctrine of the Church, therefore:-
They used to teach in the streets 2 Sam. 20;
and it is said:-
We have eaten in Thy presence, and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets Luke xiii 26;
and therefore:-
Hypocrites used to pray at the corners of the streets Matt. vi 2, 5;
and therefore:-
The householder commanded the servants to go into the streets and broad ways, and bring them in Luke xiv 21.
On this account also what is untrue and falsified is called:-
Mire, dirt, and dung of the streets Isa. v 25; x 6; Micah vii 10; Ps. xviii 42 [H.B. 43].
The prophet prophesying what was untrue would be cast into the streets of Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them Jer. xiv 16.
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